


Cafe de I'Europe (The à la carte remix)

by Lady_Ganesh



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Gen, Prison, Prostitution, There's a long way to fall in Victorian London, Victorian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 18:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1559960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ciel goes shopping among the fallen of London.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cafe de I'Europe (The à la carte remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phoebe_Zeitgeist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoebe_Zeitgeist/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Second of our Reign](https://archiveofourown.org/works/235747) by [Phoebe_Zeitgeist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoebe_Zeitgeist/pseuds/Phoebe_Zeitgeist). 



> Thanks to my beta opalmatrix, and to Phoebe Zeitgeist for such an inspirational story.

"You've a visitor," he said. "Get on, then."

He hadn't had a visitor in...it'd likely been years. Mary hadn't spoken to him since the scandal, and...well. None of his society friends would visit him here. Debtor's prison was no place for society. He kept himself as well-put as he could, and Charles still wrote, but....

He certainly didn't expect the Phantomhive boy, but there he was, a decade from the last time Richard had seen him at least, taller, but still with that arrogance. Clothes that must have been fashionable, as Richard didn't recognize the cut. Black silk gloves, his silk hat at his side. "Mr. Shirley," he said. "It's been some time."

"It has indeed," he said. "So long, in fact, that I wonder why you requested my company."

Ciel's mouth curved, just a little. "Is it so suspicious that I call upon you?"

"You have not done so," he rejoined, "for the years of my imprisonment."

Ciel's gaze flitted around the room, as though he was searching for listening ears. "I suppose I have not," he said. "Perhaps I hoped you would rejoin our society sooner."

"I am afraid, Master Phantomhive, that I was far too reckless for that." It had started with the horses, and dice, and both of them had been harmless enough, at first. But he hadn't stopped, hadn't been able to, and after a while even his good name had not been enough to save him from the bills. And then all he'd done in a desperate attempt to save himself....

There were things even Mary didn't know. God willing, she never would.

"At any rate," the boy continued. "We have, I think, matters to discuss. Will you sit?"

There was little Richard wouldn't do to be free of the cells, if only for a moment. "I will," he said, and they found a wooden bench.

"I'd like to offer you a proposition," Ciel said. "This life...cannot suit you." He nodded at the guard, who walked a few steps further away. _The young master must have paid him handsomely,_ Richard thought. He'd seen them turn down gold coin before. "Gentleman to gentleman."

 

Fannie's hands were getting shaky again. She needed a drink, but if she bought it, she wouldn't have enough for the bed, and without the bed, she couldn't sleep, and she'd need the drink still more.

 _Damn._ Surely there was someone looking for some companionship. She didn't have the looks she once had -- she'd be no one's first choice -- but she still had most of her front teeth, and she could flatter a man well enough. Surely someone....

She shuddered. It was the cold, wasn't it? She wasn't getting sick so early? Ellen had said that last time she'd been too long without drink, she'd heard voices, spoken to her lost Robbie. She couldn't bear that, not again. Not....

There was a young man walking her way. A toff, not the kind of man who'd usually pay her a shilling or two for a tumble.

Why was he looking at her, a man like him?

He was handsome, too, well dressed. In the wrong neighborhood this time of night, she thought, but he didn't look like it bothered him one bit.

He came closer, and she could see his black eye patch.

"Miss," he said. "I'd like a moment of your time."

 

"If you wish to free me from this," Richard said, "you must want something fairly significant from me. I fail to see where I could benefit you, in our respective positions."

"The proposition is simple," the Phantomhive boy said. "I wish to purchase your immortal soul."

Richard laughed until there were tears in his eyes.

The boy waited him out. "I assure you," he said. "I'm quite serious."

"Young man," Richard said. "I believe mine is already in hock."

The Phantomhive boy smiled, and Richard was reminded of a hunting falcon, just before it closed in for the kill. "Mr. Shirley," he said. "Do you think I would have approached you if there were any doubt of ownership?"

 

"I've been told it is a very simple bargain," he said. If he was unused to sitting on a whore's filthy bed, discussing the purchase of a soul, he gave no hint. "If...the gentleman in question chooses you, you will be more than adequately compensated. Then, at a period of your mutual choosing, he will feed."

"It will hurt, but briefly," she said.

"So I have been promised."

"And it will end," she said.

"It will," he said. "No flames. No further pain. Just an end to it." He looked straight into her eye, so intensely she wanted to shrink from his gaze.

"And I have your solemn vow."

"I will sign to that effect in the contract," he said. "I will suffer any pains you do, tenfold."

"Why would you do this?" she asked.

"My servant is hungry," he said. But there was something else in his face, something....

Something familiar.

"You've suffered," she said.

He rose. "This is not about what I--"

"That is why you understand," she said, emotion welling in her. "That is why you offer me this gift. Because you too would have given anything to have it end--"

Any familiarity she'd seen in his eyes disappeared. "How much money do you need? He will make his decision within the month. What will keep you alive until then?"

"I...I need my bed paid," she said. "I can take care of the rest." She did have some pride. And having her lodging paid...well, no one could steal that from her.

"I'll throw in a bottle of gin, if that's what you prefer," he said.

"Yes," she said, looking at the table. "Thank you, Sir."

"If he does not choose you," he said, "I will pay for another month's board."

"That's kind of you."

"I am not being kind," the young man said. "I assure you."

She kept her eyes on the floor until he had left.

 

"Mr. Shirley," the warden said. "Can't say I'm not sorry to see you go, Sir. You'll be staying with family?"

"A friend has rented me a room," Richard said. "Just until I'm on my feet."

The warden nodded, and Richard could see the doubt on his face. _Don't worry,_ he thought. _I won't be back, one way or another._

_"Apparently," young Phantomhive had said, "you will be denied Paradise."_

_"Young master," he said. "I let go any chance of that long ago."_

_"I suspected as much. I will write a promissory note to cover your debt, and you'll have enough to live for a few weeks. My agent will visit you in that time. If you are chosen, I am assured it will be painful, but brief."_

_"This will cost you a good deal of money," Richard said._

_"Indeed it will," he said. "But I suspect, Mr. Shirley, that it will be well worth the cost. I have heard...many rumors about the turns your life has taken. I suspect you will be something of a gourmet meal to my friend."_

_"I see."_

There had been a fire at the Phantomhive estate, that was right. A terrible fire, both parents gone in an instant, and the boy had disappeared for a month. He'd returned with an eyepatch and a terrible, almost supernatural calm. Now he knew about demons and the selling of souls.

It could not be unrelated.

Still, it was a bargain well worth taking. If his decades of sin added seasoning, well, so much the better for everyone.

He would have given the boy far more than his soul for a bit of peace. Just as well the young man didn't realize that.

 

The new dress fit well enough, and it was clean. It'd been some time since she'd been able to afford a proper laundress.

Her bed was made, and she'd had enough gin that her hands no longer shook. Ellen had helped her pin her hair up properly, like a lady. She'd snuck Ellen a tuppence for her trouble.

"You shouldn't--" Ellen said.

"It's all right," Fannie had told her. "This one's a gentleman. He likes me, I'll have coin enough."

 _If he likes me,_ she thought, _I'll have no need of coin._

_Please, God, I know you've given up on me. But if you're there, if you listen still...let him like me._

There was a knock at the door. She clutched at her handkerchief and rose.

**Author's Note:**

> Cafe de I'Europe was a popular Victorian-era restaurant.


End file.
